Thursday, May 22, 2008

Fixing the Radio



Will be a guest on Mikey Abola's radio show tonight, Friday, May 23, 7 PM. Tune in to RJ 105.9 to hear us discuss... well, I'm not sure really. Music and stuff! I get to suggest songs so you'll hear some of my favorite stuff mixed in along with some of the station's standards. If I get my way, we'll be playing Drip, Ciudad, Up dharma Down, Taken By Cars, etcetera. And we'l probably be talking about the Pinoy rock scene and music journalism, though I'm not sure. Expect long awkward silences, baseless accusations, freestyle rapping, on-air games of tic tac toe, and Barbara Cartland quotations.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Rogue: The Music Issue



GET IT GET IT GET IT! It's Rogue Magazine's First Annual Music Portfolio, featuring: Johnny Alegre, Sammy Asuncion, A.M.P.O.N., Manolet Dario, Club Dredd, Elmer Dado, Chin-Chin Gutierrez, Binky Lampano, Dondi Ledesma, Manuel Legarda, Kakaoi Legaspi, Junji Lerma, Jun Lopito, Arnold Morales, Lougee Basabas, Mocha, Moon Fear Moon, Saguijo, Gerard Salonga, Sultans Of Snap, Louie Talan, Emilio Tuason, Rico Velez, and more!

Cover story is on Sanya Smith, "Pinoy Rock's First Daughter," with excellent photography by Juan Caguicla and words by some idiot named Luis Katigbak.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Hitting the SweetSpot

Got home at 3 AM this morning from one of the best gigs I've attended all year, a SweetSpot production night at SaGuijo. SweetSpot gigs are known for having excellent, no-filler lineups, and last night's was no exception. Us 2 Evil 0 were a lot of fun as always; they have some of the catchiest songs around, and I have high hopes for their recording efforts (also, co-lead singer Quark dedicated one of the songs to Yvette and myself, making us fans for life). Julianne and her excellent band did a great set as well, and previewed one of her new songs, a "work in progress." Drip was the band we came that night to see, and they did not disappoint ("They're awesome," Mookie whispered halfway through their set); the songs from the second album really highlight their strengths, and Beng, bolstered of course by Ian and Malek, was electrifying.

The big surprise of the night -- at least for me -- was Yosha. The funny thing is, I've seen Yosha perform live before (at Mag:net High Street, I believe), and I filed them and their jazz-fusiony stylings under "Good, but not really my thing." Last night, their performance was such that I can't imagine anyone who likes music at all not getting into them. They started off strong enough, but seemed to get better and better with each song as they warmed up. They really demonstrated the sheer showoff joy that comes with a mastery of your chosen instrument (whether drums, bass, keyboards or human voice) AND that giddy give-and-take you can achieve with a band of equally skilled musicians. It helped that a lot of the people who stayed for Yosha's set -- including my companions at the table in the corner -- were musicians themselves, who could really appreciate what the quartet were doing. ("'Tangina, ang galing mo, pare!" Sarge shouted at Yosha's bassist as we were pulling out of the parking lot afterwards). I remember that their second-to-the-last number was so astonishing -- just when you thought they couldn't get any more amazing, they ramped it up even more -- that the audience just sat there in stunned silence afterwards. There was a five-second delay before our table erupted in howls and applause.

We talked to their deceptively mild-mannered singer (Yosha herself) afterwards, to show our appreciation and to ask her about upcoming gigs. They're playing at 19 East next, but afterwards, she's going overseas for a vacation, apparently. Will be sure to catch them again when she comes back.

(Thanks to Yvette, Mookie and Sarge for a great night out. 'Til next gig!)

Friday, May 02, 2008

Saturday at Pablo



Aside from Mogwai food and Sputnik comics, there's another good reason to be at Cubao X tomorrow night, May 3. Here's the text I got from Bru Electrolychee: "HEAVY HITTERZ MANILA! -- a street + contemporary art exhibit w/ 45+ emerging international artists opens at Pablo, starting at 6. Live art by phoneticontrol, tenfold, ganyan, filipinas street plan, weewilldoodle, 27+20 and electrolychee. Music by caliph8, arbiewon, pamilya dimagiba, AMPON and DJ mike boo." :) More info here and here.